Guess what time it is?
I wanted to share some links. Even if you don't celebrate Advent, there are wonderful Unit Studies waiting to happen here. The bulk of our school "vacation" occurs in December as we switch over to what the kids call Christmas School. We shift our studies to focus on our Advent celebrations with plenty of reading, crafts, cooking, etc. We use this calendar for great ideas and this year will try our new ebook Artful Advent.
We incorporate a Jesse tree, which is basically a branch with ornaments that represent the Bible and the prophecies leading to Christ's coming. Most Jesse trees are set up as "trees", but we make this our own and hang a long, curling branch lengthwise on the wall. We use our Jesse Tree as a sort of catechism. We begin in Genesis with Creation and attempt to memorize one short verse per day, going over them every day as we progress to Christ's birth and then on to His second coming. We have never truly memorized all of them (or half of them for that matter,) but I am hoping that through the years, as we repeat the same verses and explanations of verses again and again, they will commit them to memory and to heart.
We have more resources than we can incorporate. Currclick has shared so many free downloads and there are thousands of websites full of great ideas, including Homeschool Freebie of the Day. There is no lack of great ideas on the web. If you do a search for Jesse Tree on my blog, there are also links to favorite books we've used if you want to check out your library for some ideas.
Lawanda and I discussed our beliefs about Christmas in my Nativity post in the comments section. She had some great thoughts to share - please read!
3 comments:
I am really loving the "Jesse Tree" idea, from the verse in Isaiah 11:1 -
"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots..."
I know from my own experience that hearing verses over and over will eventually help with calling them to remembrance easier! :)
I was up late last night trying to decide what we should do as an advent study during December - talk about last minute! I came across that advent calendar and really liked it but it looked a little overwhelming to me. I wounded (is that a word?) up purchasing the Christmas Unit Study by Amanda Bennett and we started it today. I'm liking it, but will probably pull from different sources to flesh it out a bit.
Thanks for the email. This is what I was looking for!
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